Pantomime horses are not an everyday sight in Colchester.

But about 24 of them will be racing along the High Street today to raise awareness for charity Age Concern Colchester.

The charity’s chief executive, Jonathan Moore, said they are holding the event to remind people it is there to help older people.

He said: “We’ve been quite quiet for a few years and we’ve had a couple of name changes so we decided that we needed a big awareness raiser to remind people that we are here.”

The event will take place on Sunday and an unlikely link between pantomime horses and the elderly was where inspiration for the race came from.

Mr Moore said: “Like a pantomime horse, older people are often forgotten about by society.

“The costumes are left in cupboards collecting dust for a large part of the year so we thought we would bring them out on what will, hopefully, be a bright autumn day.”

Mr Moore also said the tradition of horse racing in the east of the UK was another reason the charity opted for a horse race.

He said: “Our region of the country is known for horse racing so we thought it would make sense to have a racing themed event from that point of view too.”

While Age Concern Colchester wants to share a serious message through the event, it will also be great fun and the perfect opportunity to learn about the positive aspects of growing old.

Mr Moore said: “We want to show that old age can be a gift and not a curse in a very fun way.

“As a society, we should be more positive about the prospect of getting older because it comes to us all.”

  • With the pantomime horse race taking place on September 17, Colchester High Street will be closed to traffic from 9am until 4pm.

The closure itself will be in place from the North Hill end of the high street to where it meets West Stockwell Street, just beyond the town hall.

However, it means no traffic will be able to access the road.

Once the road is closed and everything is set up, the first of the seven pantomime horse races will begin at 11am.

The 24 horses that have been registered to take part will begin the races under a giant inflatable starting point and each horse will have two goes at qualifying for the grand final which will take place at about 3pm.

The winners of the grand final will be awarded with a trophy.

As well as the racing, one end of the High Street will be full of charity stalls with organisations such as Helpline, Invicta and Outreach East all taking part in the day and offering activities.

There will also be a temporary bar on the High Street run by North Hill-based the Haunt which will be serving drinks and entertainment will be provided by the Rising Larks morris dancers and singer Steve Williams.

Jonathan Moore, the chief executive of Age Concern Colchester, said he hopes the race could become an annual event.

He said: “I don’t want to pre-empt the success of the day but if it all goes well and people enjoy themselves then it’s certainly something we might look into doing again.

“We’ve had plenty of interest from people who want to take part in the race so that’s really positive.

“Colchester MP Will Quince and his team have been very supportive.

“He won’t be able to take part because he’ll be in Bangladesh but his team are certainly up for the challenge.

“We’re looking forward to what will be a bit of fun to show old age is a gift, not a curse.”